Slang AI, an AI platform purpose-built for the hospitality industry, announced it has raised $36 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $68 million to date. The round was led by US Venture Partners and included $28 million in equity and $8 million in debt. Additional participants included Thayer Investment Partners, Claire Hughes Johnson, as well as existing investors Homebrew, Stage 2 Capital, Active Capital, Wing VC, Collide Capital, and Underscore VC.
Founded in 2019, Slang AI has developed what it calls a “Superhost” platform, a custom-trained, agentic voice AI system designed to manage guest communications for restaurants, hotels and venues. The company said the new capital will be used to expand and deepen its voice AI capabilities, extend into multi-modal guest experiences, and scale its engineering, product and go-to-market teams amid growing demand.
Slang AI’s platform answers inbound guest calls around the clock and is built to go beyond basic question-and-answer systems. It handles reservations, private dining and catering inquiries, intelligently routes high-value requests to the appropriate staff members, and recognizes returning guests and VIPs. The system integrates with leading hospitality platforms including OpenTable, SevenRooms, Tripleseat and Yelp.
According to the company, it now serves more than 2,000 restaurant locations globally and reports 95%+ guest satisfaction. Slang AI says it delivers up to 20x ROI for operators and has driven a 2x increase in phone reservations for customers including Texas de Brazil, Carmines, Riot Hospitality Group and Dineamic Hospitality.
The company cites industry data showing that 8 out of 10 restaurant executives plan to increase AI spending this year and that 94% of operators consider AI critical to staying competitive. Internally, Slang AI estimates that up to 50% of inbound opportunities at restaurants go unanswered daily, with roughly 20% arriving after hours. The company also found that 10% to 20% of calls fail during handoff or follow-up, and that private dining and catering requests often stall due to delayed responses.
A key differentiator for Slang AI is its proprietary dataset of more than 25 million customer calls from over 10 million unique guests, collected across its network of restaurant locations since launch. The company says this dataset enables its voice AI to better understand guest intent, tone and behavior, allowing it to respond with natural timing, clarity and personalization.
Slang AI Co-Founder and CEO Alex Sambvani said the platform is designed to replicate the personalization typically associated with the world’s best restaurants at scale.
KEY QUOTES
“The best restaurants in the world succeed because they make every guest feel known. Hospitality is about remembering people, anticipating their needs, and never missing an opportunity to serve. Slang AI makes that level of personalization possible at every restaurant, not just a handful of elite establishments. We’re building technology that unlocks a new level of personalization and human connection to every interaction, at any scale, and we deeply appreciate our restaurant partners’ and investors’ shared belief in our vision. This funding round will empower us to make the Slang platform even more personal, more proactive, and more intelligent. It will remember even more about guests’ history and preferences, and bring them back through thoughtful, one-to-one outreach. And it will give operators real-time insight into both guest experience and team performance, so issues surface early and service keeps getting better. We’re thrilled to accelerate the expansion of our platform, and look forward to driving even greater value for our customers and investors.”
Alex Sambvani, Co-Founder and CEO, Slang AI
Founding Farmers Restaurant Group Co-Founder Dan Simons said the platform has had a measurable impact on operations.
“Slang AI has fundamentally impacted our business. Before Slang, we were missing calls, reservations, and private event leads that our team couldn’t get to in time. Now those opportunities are captured automatically, and guests who might have booked elsewhere are booking with us. It has delivered meaningful, measurable results, while removing constant interruptions so our staff can stay focused on delivering the highest value human interactions.”
Dan Simons, Co-Founder, Founding Farmers Restaurant Group
US Venture Partners General Partner Rick Lewis said Slang AI’s data advantage positions it as a category leader in hospitality AI.
“Slang AI has built something incredibly rare: a proprietary dataset from 25 million real guest interactions that gives them an insurmountable advantage in understanding how people actually communicate with restaurants. Customer satisfaction at 95%+ is almost unheard of in enterprise software – these operators genuinely love the product. When you combine that kind of data moat with deeply delighted customers, you’re looking at a category-defining company.”
Rick Lewis, General Partner, US Venture Partners
